New blog title - motions, emotions, & commotions

I've retitled my blog. It's now titled "motions, emotions, & commotions." I selected this title from a textbook I used more than a decade ago in the course Intro to Educational Psychology. The course was taught by Ron Gentile who was a fabulous and memorable teacher. I hope I can inspire as many fond memories in my students, as I'm sure Ron has done in the minds of his students.

I recently reminisced about the first class I had with Ron Gentile. He sang and danced to inform us about the idea of "rapanoia." Rapanoia is opposite of paranoia. Paranoia is an irrational fear of imaginary or unreal threats. Rapanoia, a term coined by Ron Gentile, is the fear of real threats that should be feared. It took me a while to recollect what the point was that Ron so deeply ingrained into my brain with his singing and dancing, but it is deep within my memory banks and it will stay with me for the rest of my life.

My title selection, "motions, emotions, & commotions," is used in Ron's book that describes the emotions associated with acts of learning. Through writing this blog I am experiencing many emotions. They range from anxiety about who will read my text, elation that someone may possibly  read my text, and dread that I'm writing this public yet privately reflective text.

Ron also uses this phrase about commotion in the section of his book that discusses classroom management issues. This is an area that I'm currently involved in developing a professional development conference to assist UB faculty to learn to effectively engage their students in order to minimize classroom disruptions. This is also an area where I have my greatest fears about my own teaching abilities. You might say this is where my paranoia derives, and this is where my rapanoia derives. I have real fears that I'm unable to effectively engage students.

Through this class about the use of computer applications in the School Library Media Center (SLMC) I hope to gain greater confidence about my role as an instructor in the classroom. With this new knowledge I'll be better able to assist other faculty to overcome their rapanoia.